Rainy Day

You really have to love this time of year in New England. We still have a solid 12-16" of snow on the ground but it is raining like crazy. The local skiing is not great; the trails are typically either ice or slush and anything in the woods or exposed is getting thin. This rain may signal the end until we get some more snow, at least at Great Brook. Weston will be OK I should think, assuming they can chop up the sheet ice. Up north they are getting snow, so conditions there should remain good. We also found that the open fields were good yesterday and still have plenty of snow. Unfortunately, this rain is going to make the crust tough to ski on once it freezes back up, unless we get a little bit of snow on top of it.

Rain!

As for riding, I got out yesterday for a quick 30 miles. It was cool but the conditions on the roads were not too bad. Primarily dry in fact. The banks are melting back and visibility is dramatically improving. Hopefully this rain will stop and we will dry up for a local road ride tomorrow mid morning.

Not exactly a flattering portrait.

Happy Birthday

Today is the kittens first birthday, as far as we can tell anyhow. To celebrate we had a small birthday party for them last night with some friends, complete with excellent birthday cake from Concord Tea Cakes, our favorite local bakery. Opie was rather fond of the cake and helped himself.

"Hey, this stuff is pretty good!"

The kittens were very festive and had an excellent time. As you can see, they were so very excited that they could hardly contain themselves.

"Why are you doing this?"

First Shot at Biathlon

This morning Cathy and I took a first shot at the sport of Biathlon. It combines cross country skiing with steel target shooting. Our friend and primary ski and bike purveyor, Chris, started a club that runs out of Harvard, MA. Today was a practice session at the range where they have a one mile loop set up along with a 150m penalty loop and a single range with 4 sets of 5 each, steel flip targets.


The basic principle is that you ski and then take 5 shots at 5" diameter target, 50m down range, using a .22 bolt action, 5 shot magazine fed rifle equipped with special peep sights. Typically the shooting stance will be an equal mix of prone and standing. Easy, right? For each miss you have to ski a penalty loop before proceeding out for your next full lap. For official competition I believe that the target sizes are smaller and vary depending on shooting position, with standing being bigger and prone being smaller. I've been away from shooting for some time now so lets just say, it was hard enough as it was.


We both had a great time and are pretty psyched to add some more variety to the mix. Cathy consistently out-shot me (again) shooting prone, until the end when I got my stance set and was able to shoot a 5 for 5, but of course, this was not directly after skiing. We're in the process of getting the licensing in place anyhow and will be in the market for some rifles soon there after. The down side is that the good stuff costs nearly what a respectable bike would cost. The up side is that unlike bicycles, firearms really are a good investment if you take care of them properly.

Happy Valentine's Day

Now go to the Hallmark store and sift through the picked over, sappy cards and maybe get some stale candies that nobody actually eats, or god forbid hit the unmentionables store at the mall to buy something that in your perverted mind would look stunning lying on the bedroom floor next to the naked 21 year old sales associate. Then stop on the way home at the florist, who in exchange for $50 will give you a very, very few flowers that are sure to be dead within two days as they've been sitting stockpiled in a freighter offshore for the past month waiting to meet the demands of this one glorious day.

Bah! Humbug!

Sculpture from the DeCordova Museum

Something Really Different

I grew up in north-eastern VT in the heart of hunting territory. As such, I was exposed to firearms at an early age, developing an appreciation as well as a healthy respect for them. They were viewed as both a tool as well as a means of healthy enjoyment and fun when used appropriately. Although their potential dangers were always made abundantly evident, it was understood that there is nothing inherently sinister about guns, only people. No different than cars, chainsaws, alcohol or trans-fats. In the wrong hands, they are all dangerous.

.9mm shot from an Isosceles stance

In moving to MA I was forced to surrender my weapons at the border upon entry. At one point many years ago I decided to obtain licensing and got an Firearms Identification (FID) card from the town of Lexington. This was stamped right on the card, "good for life". Well, apparently the life term is defined by the same folks who define life in prison. Thus, life ended many years ago. Now there is a new process and requirements. I've been meaning to get a new permit for years but as I have no firearms in MA, it hasn't been on the top of the priority list.

The balloons were no match for the AR-15 with a RedDot sight

This winter my buddy Chris has organized a biathlon club out of the Harvard Sportsmen's Club. This peaked my interest and gave me some new found incentive. Chris also hooked me up with a couple of his friends, De and Hanwei, who are NRA certified firearms safety instructors as well as competitive shooters. Their business is www.massfirearmsafety.com and they are really great guys. We registered for their class in pistol safety along with another couple. This class is a pre-requisite for application for firearms permit licensing in the state of MA. It consisted of a 4 hour classroom session and another 4 hour session at the range. We started with a safety recap and then progressed through the handguns from .22 revolvers up to .38 and .357 revolvers and onto .9mm and .45 semi-automatics. We finished off with some AR-15 .223 semi-automatic rifles, which Cathy was most fond of.

All in all, an excellent course taught by instructors that were extremely knowledgeable, friendly and enthusiastic. Everyone came away with a thorough understanding of the weapons, their proper handling and overall firearms safety. Everyone also had a really good time.